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Here's How Much Your Obamacare Insurance Rates Will Rise in 2017

By Nicole Levy | October 26, 2016 3:27pm

MANHATTAN — New Yorkers shopping for health insurance plans through the state's marketplace when open enrollment kicks off Nov. 1 may find their premiums are going up.

The rates for individual plans in New York will rise on average by nearly 17 percent in 2017, according to the state Department of Financial Services. Nationwide, the federal government estimates that the average mid-level Obamacare plan will cost about 22 percent more in 2017 than it did in 2016. 

Driving the increase in rates are three factors: insurers now have the claims data to calculate and distribute the costs of their sickest consumers; the federal reinsurance program that paid plans taking enrollees who need costlier care has ended; and medical costs — particularly drugs — are trending upwards. 

Here's how much you can expect premium rates to rise this coming year for insurance companies offering plans to residents of New York, Kings, Richmond and Queens counties through the New York state healthcare exchange:

► Affinity — 22.4 percent
► Care Connect — 29.2 percent
► Fidelis — 11.6 percent
MetroPlus — 18.8 percent

The uptick in premium costs could potentially impact at least 2.8 million New Yorkers, which is how many participated in the state's health insurance exchange as of Jan. 31, 2016. (Roughly 850,000 previously uninsured New York residents have signed up for coverage since the marketplace launched in October 2013.)

But federal subsidies and choices like the "Essential Plan," which lowers premiums to $20 a month or less and eliminates deductibles, will defray expenses for many local healthcare consumers with lower incomes, experts and officials say.

"More than 50 percent of consumers buying plans through the NY State of Health will receive a tax credit offsetting the increases in premiums, and for some the credit will result in lower actual premiums," New York State Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo said in a statement released in August.

Plans purchased during the three-month enrollment period beginning Nov. 1 go into effect Jan. 1. Children and New Yorkers eligible for Medicaid and the Essential Plan can enroll in coverage through the state insurance exchange at any time during the year.